Talk:Shelob
Erm... Did shelob really have a stinger? Or was that just the film. I think that they must have taken "stinger" literally and given her one, even though spiders don't have stingers. If I remember correctly, only orcs referred to her "stinger", and being orcs, they can't be trusted for accuracy... Any thoughts? --Sam Kay 19:58, 7 September 2007 (UTC) : It's a common mistake/artistic license in fiction for spiders to have stingers, from The Lord of the Rings to Arachnophobia to some Spiderman material, and it was a common misconception (among non-entomologists/non-biologists) in the early-to-mid-20th century. You might be surprised how much better the average person understands animals in general now as opposed to Tolkien's time, despite the decline of interest in animal-related professions and hobbies. : So, although we don't necessarily know, I wouldn't be surprised if Tolkien really meant that she literally had a stinger. Krybski (talk) 09:24, December 1, 2012 (UTC) :I sometimes get mixed up between what happen in the book and what happened in the film; Frodo must have been stung via a stinger, but I can't recall Shelobs exact details. I'll have look it up.-- 21:37, 7 September 2007 (UTC) ::More likely he was stung by fangs. Spiders have fangs, poisonous ones, not stingers. --Sam Kay 16:32, 23 September 2007 (UTC) :::I can find no art except the picture you have there, that depicts Shelob with a stinger, nor can I find any description in the book or elsewhere that says that she had a stinger precisely, only as you say the orcs referring to it as her stinger. I think it's safe to conclude her stinger - if she possessed one - was the normal spider sting or her fangs. When Sam fights Shelob as well, he stands under her belly and to quote from the text is "out of reach of her claws and stinger", and " no little bite of poison this time* to still the struggling of her meat; this time to slay and then to rend" If there was a stinger on her abdomen he would have been in reach of it surely plus the second passage refers to her bite. Needless to say these passages only make sense if her stinger was in her mouth, the term stinger is used by the orcs to mean her fangs I think? :::See The Two Towers: Shelob's Lair for more details. :::Does this article need to be revised and assuming the picture is incorrect does the erroneous Picture need to be replaced? --Oromë 14:26, 22 May 2008. *presumably referring to Frodo's recent paralysis. she was once a sorceress who turned herself into this beast it was on her abdomen i mean anyone could see it was on her abdomen...right? though i do not want any part of this argument...but everyone could see it was there Mithril Shirt I have a question, there is a part when Shelob stinged Frodo, right? But I wonder how it happened if Frodo was wearing a Mithril shirt given by his uncle? Or maybe he was stinged lower than that...? 10:15, April 4, 2014 (UTC)